1869.] WHITAKER SOUTH BEVON " NEW RED." 167 



tion also implies the previous consolidation and nptilting of the beds, 

 I think it must be allowed that very great time passed between the 

 two periods. Perhaps, therefore, the Devonshire breccia may be 

 older than has been thought. At first Mr. Pengelly classed the 

 lower part of the Devon " New Eed " as Bunter (the lowest division 

 of the Trias) ; but afterwards the conformity of the beds, without 

 any apparent break, led him to think that all must belong to one 

 division of the Trias (unless all three are represented), and that one 

 the uppermost (Keuper), on account of the passage up into the Lias. 

 As to the beds with which we are here concerned, from their 

 being the resting-place of Hyperodapedon, there can be little doubt 

 that they belong to the Keuper ; indeed Mr. G. W. Ormerod, P.G.S., 

 has inferred, from the occurrence of " waterstone-beds " and of 

 pseudomorphs of rock-salt crystals, that the whole of the beds east 

 of Exmouth (that is, all except the great breccia &c. of Dawhsh and 

 Teignmouth) are of this age *. I think however that it would be 

 hardly safe to conclude that aU the " New Eed " of Devonshire 

 belongs to one member of the Trias, or even that its lowermost divi- 

 sion may not be a glacial breccia of Permian age. 



Discussion". 



Sir R. I. MuRCHisox argued in favour of the overwhelming im- 

 portance of palaeontological evidence, and maintained that Hypero- 

 dapedon was Triassic. He objected to the use of the term " poiki- 

 litic," which was merely indicative of the spotted character of the 

 beds, and protested against the mingling of the Permian and Triassic 

 series. 



Sir Charles Ltell, referring to the occurrence of Hyperodapedon 

 with Stagonolepis and Telerpeton in the uppermost sandstones of 

 Elgin, remarked that he came to the conclusion that these beds were 

 Triassic in 1859, and that Mr. Symonds had in that year stated 

 them to be the equivalents of the i?^?//ic^osc«tri(5-sandstones of 

 Shropshire. 



Professor Eamsay regarded the Eed Marls and Sandstones de- 

 scribed by Mr. Whitaker as Keuper, and the lower members of his 

 section as of Permian age. He confirmed Prof. Huxley's views as 

 to the existence of a great extent of continental land at the epoch 

 when Hyperodapedon and the Eeptiles associated with it were in 

 existence, and remarked that these Eeptiles inhabited the shores of 

 the great salt lakes of the Triassic land. He objected to the use of 

 the term " poikilitic," and remarked that if the idea embodied by 

 Prof. Huxley under it were to be accepted, it would have to be 

 extended to all terrestrial deposits from the Silurian period to the 

 present day. 



Dr. GuNTHER referred to his description of Sphenodon {=Hat~ 

 teria), and remarked that in that genus there are uncinate processes 

 on the ribs, as in Birds, which do not exist in Hyperodapedon. He 



* Trans. Devon. Assoc. Lit. Sci. & Art for 1868, and Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. ■» 

 vol. XXV. p. 50 (February 1869). 



